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Topic: What is your expertise? Poll! (Read 9760 times)

It has come to my attention that mechanical engineers (such as myself) are a completely outnumbered minority when it comes to robotics . . . And my experience shows that the majority robot builder is by trade a programmer . . .

So I am curious about what everyones specialty is. Please vote!

If you have not been officially trained in any of the fields (at a university), just vote for the one you think you are best at. If you are equal in two different areas, choose the one that you want to be best at.

If you are a specialist in an outside field that still relates to robotics, such as psychology (for AI) or biology (for biomimetics), choose Other and let us know!

Just a hobbyist, no university degree (yet). However I work as a computer technician and I have an assistant computer programming (intensive) course diploma. In highschool I did electronics as a hobby and I was a lathe machine operator after finishing high school. So I have some knowledge from all the fields, but not a university diploma.

Hi i am doing some Serious Robotics stuff for last 9 years when i was in my 8 grade. Since then i had develop skills in mechanical , electronics and programing.But i am more inclined to mechanicals but i am doing my undergraduate engineering in electronics

Hello, I just recently got into robotics. I am studying to be a computer engineer(3rd year) so I know about both circuit design and programming. I also have more friends than I can count that are mechanical engineers. One of them even taught me how to use SolidWorks when I made my first robot.

I'm a mechanical Engineer, doing a PhD in applied dynamics and control systems (how stuff moves and making it move how you want). I think starting off in robotics you don't need too much of these skills though. As the 50 dollar robot shows, two servos and some cardboard wheels and you're moving about. I think understanding electronics is a harder first step in robotics for someone starting to learn from scratch, because I think people have a more intuitive feel for mechanics (force, mass, velocity...etc) than they do voltage, inductance, capacitance.

All engineering is just problem solving, whether circuit trouble, bugs in your code, mechanical failure, you use the same basic skills to try and figure out what's going wrong its just the tools that are different (oscilloscope, debugger, HAMMER )

I have degrees in Computer and Electrical engineering but right out of college I went into embeded software design as it was all that I could find in my area. Know I am doing more electronics integration. I have been playing with electronics and robotics as a hobbyist for 6-7 years. Would LOVE to do it professionally just haven't found the right company to pay be to do it yet.

I'm studying electrical engineering but I like robotics a lot. The problem here (Chile) is that the only University offering robotics engineering as a degree sucks (95% programming, 4% electronics, 1% mechanics).

So when I finish (next year) I will try to study mechanics to expand my knowledge.

I got this email today showing statistics of those who have been involved in the CMU robotics club for the last few years. Figured it would be interesting/useful for those considering getting into robotics in college.

And the statistic you've all been waiting for: Approximately 18.4%female, which is worse than CS, ECE, MechE (though just barely, 18.6%),CIT undergrad, CIT overall, SCS overall, or pretty much any other groupI tried to compare us to. This percentage is based on me lookingthrough names of this years members and only counting those that i waspretty sure of.

Yeah, Rebelgium, you should choose for electronics. Programming is very easy to pick up (Cprogramming.com and cplusplus.com recommended). I've been programming for 5 years now. 3 of those 5 years I've been programming DirectX and OpenGL. I've made my own physics engine but when I was busy implenting electromagnetics. I got Trojan Horsed and most of my work (except for the print-outs covered in bugs) was gone.

Hmm... I spend 11 years in univiersity study biology and chemistry. Tons of useless piece of papers on the wall. Nothing related to robot. But I built many robots when I was younger.I guess you have to love your hobby to make it happen, otherwise you never going to build one.

I have the lot actually, I'm studying a degree in mechatronic engineering double with maths and Computer Science! Currently only a first year but I've had a bit of experience coding and lived with mechanical stuff my whole life.

You really need a mix of skills. My strength is math and software, and I've taught myself enough electronics to work with other designers, but my lack of mechanical engineering skills are a constant source of frustration. If I was looking to hire a robotics engineer, I would be especially happy to find someone with competence in 3D modeling and fabrication, PCB layout with microcontrollers and mix signal (analog/digital), and programming in C as well as web tools (Python, Ajax, etc). In any case, my hiring priority would probably be set highest for software skills, since that need remains continuous before and after a robot has been put into service, while it is somewhat less challenging to contract electronic and mechanical design services for discrete projects.

It's definitely harder to do mechanical development long-distance, but let me know if you ever make it out to the Left Coast - we're starting to do some cool airborne stuff. Actually, that's a discipline that wasn't mentioned in your poll but will become increasingly important in robotics - aeronautical and aerospace engineering.

I selected Engineering(other). I am getting my degree in biomechatronics (interaction between biological systems and mechatronical sytems) in a few months. I am getting a job at cyberdyne(http://www.cyberdyne.jp/) and doing my graduate school next year. However I dont use mechanics and digital computing a lot(though I also like them). My research uses a lot of electronics, cytology, a little of chemistry and analog computing(a lot of mathematics is required here since I have to design my own hardware from scratch).

I have no degree as I am in what is the equivalent to the last highschool year, but I still do not know what to study, I have 3 options:-Mechatronics engineering-Computer Science engineering-Electronic cyberneticsAlthoug I belive mechatronics is the way to go, still want to be sure if that is what I think it will be

Hmm... I spend 11 years in univiersity study biology and chemistry. Tons of useless piece of papers on the wall. Nothing related to robot. But I built many robots when I was younger.I guess you have to love your hobby to make it happen, otherwise you never going to build one.

I'm sure you did get something useful with you from those years. Studying increases the brain capacity in general, right? And as you are building an android (an really cool one!), it must have helped knowing how an human works, right?

Hmm... I spend 11 years in univiersity study biology and chemistry. Tons of useless piece of papers on the wall. Nothing related to robot. But I built many robots when I was younger.I guess you have to love your hobby to make it happen, otherwise you never going to build one.

I'm sure you did get something useful with you from those years. Studying increases the brain capacity in general, right? And as you are building an android (an really cool one!), it must have helped knowing how an human works, right?

Exactly, although he may believe he should have studied biomechatronics or something, anyway his female android is amazing.

I'm a Network admin, so I have to do hardware, software, wireless, cable networking, a little bit of programming(mostly batch files), also have a minor in biology, but I suck at electronics (go figure!) I can solder but I don't know what to solder!

Hi I m a CSE student currently in my 3rd year in undergrad studies.I am currently on to making (currently my circuit design and algo is finished on paper only, i as of now don't have the hardware yet, but hope to get them by nov 2007) my first atunomous bot (basically a line following bot with some extra capabilities.

P.S.: Ai-Bot said it righ... if you have the zeal to do something then no matter which stream you might be from you can always excel. Just look at what he (Ai-Bot) has achieved. downloaded the video and just saw it... was amazed by the sheer brilliance of this genius.... what impressed me most was the BRAINS software. No matter what you say FOR AN ANDROID TO BE AN ANDROID THE A.I. (that is the software part) IS THE MOST IMPORTANT THING. SINCE YOU CAN CLASSIFY AN ANDROID TO POSSES TRULY ADVANCED LEVEL OF A.I. AND THUS RENDER IT INDISTINGUISHABLE FROM A FELLOW HUMAN IF (quoting allan turing the famous mathematician) YOU ARE HAVING A CONVERSATION WITH SOMEONE OR SOMETHING (in this case an android) ACROSS A BLACK SCREEN AN AFTER ENOUGH TIME (a bit ambiguous) YOU ARE NOT ABLE TO SUSPECT THAT THE ONE OR THING YOU ARE TALKING TO IS NOT ACTUALLY HUMAN BUT AN ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE. (sorry folks may be i m a cse student thats why i m a bit biased towards the software and programming part OF IT ALL.